1984: A classic season

Looking back at the Padres' first taste of postseason play

A jubilant Tim Flannery is right in the middle of the locker room celebration after the Padres beat the Cubs in Game 5 of the 1984 National League Championship Series to advance to their first World Series.
— Union-Tribune file photo

A jubilant Tim Flannery is right in the middle of the locker room celebration after the Padres beat the Cubs in Game 5 of the 1984 National League Championship Series to advance to their first World Series.
/ Union-Tribune file photo

On cold, snowy days in central Ohio, Eddie Lee Whitson sometimes likes to relax in his den and watch an old video.

It's from Oct. 4, 1984. Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. The Chicago Cubs had won the first two games of the best-of-five-game playoff 13-0 and 4-2. The Padres' season rested that evening on the right arm of Whitson, the team's starting pitcher.

“That day I will never forget because it was probably the day of my whole life,” said Whitson, now 54 and living in Dublin, Ohio. “Talking about it now still raises the hair on my arms.”

It's been 25 years since the Padres' first World Series season. Players from that team now are enjoying retirement or second careers. Two are dead.

But a quarter-century of reflection helps shed light on many unsung and behind-the-scenes details that shaped it. In retrospect, these moments seem even more relevant or provocative to them now with the passage of time.

It's why Whitson still can feel the noise from Game 3. It's why manager Dick Williams said first baseman Steve Garvey “probably got a lot more credit than he deserved.” It's also why Williams still gets angry about then-National League President Chub Feeney.

A look back, 25 years later:

Graig and Goose

In Williams' first two seasons as Padres manager in 1982 and 1983, the Padres finished 81-81 twice. To overcome mediocrity in '84, Williams said the club needed a power-hitting third baseman and an overpowering relief pitcher. General Manager Jack McKeon unsuccessfully tried to obtain Montreal Expos third baseman Tim Wallach and Cubs reliever Lee Smith. Instead, the team signed free agent Yankees reliever Goose Gossage in January 1984 and received Yankees third baseman Graig Nettles in a trade on March 30, just three days before the season opener.

Their acquisitions proved to be the team's missing ingredients, but not so much because of what they provided on the field, team members say today. More so, it was because unlike the Padres of today, the front office was sending a message to the team that it was doing what it took to win a pennant.

“We struggled for runs in '83,” pitcher Mark Thurmond said. “When we got Gossage and Nettles, we felt like we had a good chance to compete.”

Gossage agreed to a five-year, $6.25 million salary, which at the time made him the highest-paid pitcher ever. It's a stark contrast in message from this season, when the Padres front office tried to unload its best pitcher, Jake Peavy, largely to save money.

“It just seemed to jump-start a lot of guys inside that locker room,” Whitson said.

It also gave the team a mentoring element it needed. The '84 Padres had several young contributors that year. Outfielder Kevin McReynolds, outfielder Tony Gwynn, Thurmond and starting pitcher Andy Hawkins were among 11 regular players who had less than four seasons of experience in the majors. Gossage and Nettles had 28 seasons combined and had played in six combined World Series.